The invention relates to a process for testing cigarettes of a cigarette group corresponding particularly to the contents of a cigarette pack, whereby testing members assigned to each cigarette of a cigarette group are moved near to the end faces of the cigarettes. Furthermore, the invention relates to an apparatus for testing cigarettes.
Testing of the cigarettes is effected in connection with packaging of the same. The cigarettes are tested for a correct and adequate tobacco filling and for the presence and correct formation of a filter in as far as filter cigarettes are concerned.
For this purpose, testing members of a testing unit are conveyed near to the end faces of the cigarettes. The testing members can be constructed in various ways. Frequently spring-loaded testing rams, movable in an axial direction, are used, similar to the embodiment according to DE-PS 22 29 382. Optoelectronically operated sensors are also known and suitable. Several of this type of testing member are combined by a holding device to form a testing unit. When a defective cigarette is discovered, the entire cigarette group is usually seperated out from the packaging process.